


Cat-titude

by Sunako_Akuma



Series: The Assassin and the Vikingr [2]
Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Gen, Nali is a troll
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-30
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-16 17:48:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29086353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sunako_Akuma/pseuds/Sunako_Akuma
Summary: Eivor finds a cat, Hytham accidently hunts, people feast and Eivor is yet again utterly surprised by the Hytham's kindness and Nali is a cat, with the according attitude.
Relationships: Eivor & Hytham (Assassin's Creed)
Series: The Assassin and the Vikingr [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2023580
Comments: 6
Kudos: 27





	Cat-titude

**Author's Note:**

> Please do not question my grammar skills at the end of this. I have no idea why this feels so much worse than others.   
> This is an interpretation of what (I remember) the kid said when you do the Nali World event. That no one but Eivor had been able to touch her.   
> I also apologise for the pun. I really couldn't quite think of a better title. And I might even go back and edit this thing again at some point.

Eivor ignored the looks of her crew when she boarded the longboat with the still purring, white cat in her arms.

“What’s with the cat?” One of her men asked, looking slightly unsure at the snow-white feline.

“Nali, she’s joining the crew.” Her raiders shared a look, that Eivor knew far too well, but said nothing more on the topic of the cat. She knew too well what tended to happen to their felines, but she had a good feeling about Nali. The white reminded her of their home in Norway, so that was a bonus too. Above her Synin crowed above her, before swooping down and landing on her shoulder, looking curiously at the cat, that starred back. And for once she had the entire crew’s attention, simply because they wanted to know if Nali befell one of the two main fates of their previous felines.

When the white cat simply reached out a paw to gently poke the bird, claws safely kept away, Eivor smirked when she saw a wave of disappointed faces, that what they hoped hadn’t set in. Placing the cat down onto the wood, she placed herself in the small hallow at Eivor’s feet. The vikingr smiled and petted the cat one last time, before jumping onto the side of the boat, Synin setting off into the air to scout for her.

“Set course to Raventhrope men, we’re going home!” Her command met roaring approval.

Hytham was stretching in a clearing deeper into the forest, enjoying the peace of nature and the light burn of his muscles. His wound had barely been aching the last few days and he was slowly able to move better every day and his breathing had rapidly improved. Getting to his feet, Hytham looked at the manikins he put up, before falling into the stance trained into him since he joined the Hidden Ones. Attacking the first one, stabbing right into its none existent heart, before swirling away from an imaginary sword slash, jumping back towards the next puppet, slicing its neck with his blade before rolling into the bushes, sneaking to the next, ramming the blade straight through the spine in its neck. Gasping for air he looked around, noticing that he managed the entire parkour without once having to stop. While it wasn’t up to his standard before, he had improved again. He was getting closer to where the healer had told him he could never get back to. That his body could never recover from that wound.

Hytham smiled. He could recover if he slowly worked at his body, pushing at his limits, but not stepping over them until his body could cope. Then he might be able to fully recover. Eivor came to mind. She had told him that if he kept working at himself, he would manage. While neither had mentioned the fact that she had decided to sleep with him under the influence of hallucinogenic mushrooms and nothing had truly changed between them. Maybe when falling asleep the next night his bed had seemed lonely and cold, but Hytham wouldn’t admit that. But when Eivor had come back around midnight that night, he simply lifted the furs and enjoyed the sound of someone breathing beside him. At least that’s what he told himself. Deep down Hytham knew he was venturing down a dangerous path, but he simply didn’t want to change it either.

The slight rustling of leaves was the only warning he got that something was coming at him fast. He sidestepped and stabbed towards the beast that had come at him. Soft flesh carved underneath the sharp blade of his hidden blade and the boar went down on its knees as it died. Starring at the pig, Hytham’s mind quickly reminded him, where one was… usually another way close by. Jumping ungracefully aside he narrowly avoided being rammed by said second forest dweller. He feathered his jump with a role and using the momentum to get back to his feet and throwing his pocketknife at the boar. It squealed loudly at the blade pieced it skin on its hindleg. The boar’s leg collapsed under it and Hytham sieged the chance and got close enough to slit its throat. Watching it pitifully wring for air, he had to admit one thing. He was horribly ill prepared to fight wildlife.

“Hytham!” He looked to where Petra came crashing through the bushes with a worried expression on her face, her brother not far behind.

“Hytham! You’re okay!” She was relieved to see him and it made him slightly uncomfortable. If there was one thing he hated, it was being the centre of attention

“Wallace and I were hunting boars and two took off in this direction. I remembered that you set up some targets here to train and feared the worst with your injury.” She noticed the boars on the ground and the blood dripping from his still extended blade and relaxed.

“I’m glad you’re okay.” Hytham retracted his blade, scratching the back of his head, a clear sign for all those who knew him well he enough that he was uncomfortable. A stupid habit he had been unable to break since childhood.

“Wow. Two for two, Hytham. There will be a feast tonight for you! And your recovery!” Wallace and Petra were two of the few people Hytham had spent some time with, excluding Eivor. With slight dread Hytham just realized, what he had accomplished. And he knew no matter what he would say to stop Petra from telling Randvi would be in vain. He watched and helped Wallace and Petra load the boars onto a cart, sitting beside Wallace in the cart after they finished as Petra rode the horse and cart back to Ravensthorpe. Looking at the other male, Wallace just shrugged and unhelpfully stated: “Get used to it Hytham, you’re one of us. There is no getting out of a feast with them.” That was the last thing he wanted to hear as much as those words warmed his heart. He really hated being the centre of attention.

When Eivor and her crew returned, they were surprised at the overly cheery greeting and being ushered into the longhouse so fast. The hall was warm, the fine smell of cooked boar, spices and mead hung in the air and made her mouth water, though the reason for this feast was lost on her. The blond grengr had thrown herself onto a bench and grabbed some food, savouring everything. This time Randvi had outdone herself with cooking the strew. The meat nearly melted in her mouth and generally the meat was extra ordinarily tender for a boar. Only when she finally had filled her belly, she wondered for what exactly this feast was. She looked around for Randvi, who was chatting with Petra, and took off in her direction.

“Not that I’m complaining, but for what is this feast?” That was when Eivor noticed both women smelled significantly of ale, not enough for Eivor to worry about Randvi’s state but enough for Petra.

“Hytham! He hunted us two boars!” Petra nodded overly agreeing, nearly toppling herself, if not for both Randvi and Eivor grabbing her. Eivor frowned. Hytham and hunting? Not that she would believe he couldn’t but he wasn’t the character to go out and hunt boar for a feast. To her ears it sounded more like an accident on Hytham’s side. Her friend was far too uncomfortable in such masses, even more so when it meant he was the one they honoured.

“Where is the man that hunted such a feast for us?” Eivor asked, trying to supress a smile, letting her gaze wander across the room. Hytham was frustratingly hard to stop in a mass of people, even her own people and his rather unique clothing.

“He was…. Over there at som’ point.” Petra mumbled, pointing to the side entrance to the longhouse and Eivor knew exactly where he had fled to.

Climbing up to roof to the longhouse, Eivor found the man she wanted to find, next to her cat. They were sitting next to each other, starring out to the water.

“So, I was right.” Hytham looked in her direction and smiled, clearly happy of her presence.

“Eivor, it is not that I don’t – “She shut him up with a shake of her head.

“I know you don’t like being the centre of attention, although soon no one of them will remember you felling your own feast.” He laughed quietly, knowing very well how much ale and mead they tended to pour down their throats on a night like this.

“What happened?” Eivor really wanted to know, Hytham scratched the back of his head, before he started to explain.

“I was training, when I heard rustling of a bush and a boar jumped out. I killed it and then the other one came at me.” Eivor had to laugh, she had been so right. He hadn’t been hunting. The prey even came to him. When she calmed, she leaned back, laying on the roof, staring into the night. Thousands of stars lit up the sky, the moon giving enough light to see into the distance.

“May I ask a question Eivor?” She looked at Hytham, who was looking right into her eyes. Eivor nodded, waiting on the question. The assassin pointed to the white cat, next to him, sleeping curled up and Eivor could already guess where it was going.

“What is it with the Helheim part of her?” Groaning Eivor thought back a few days. Nali didn’t like people touching her apparently. Not Eivor though. Or Hytham for that matter.

“They are exaggerating, she isn’t that bad. She just doesn’t like being touched.” Both of them starred at the cat, who just started purring, Hytham’s hand still resting on her flank.

Eivor stumbled into the Bureau, nearly crashing into Hytham, who was grabbing something from the shelf right next to the door. She had… maybe drunk a bit too much? Just a little bit though. Hytham watched her, holding something she couldn’t quite see in the dark, before he moved to his desk, and lit the candles. With the light she finally saw what he was carrying. Cloth? He set it down on the table, shifting it around a bit and then it hit her like one of Dag’s punches. A nest. Synin, who had taken a seat on the beams above them, also noticed what Hytham was doing and swooped down, landing on his desk, before looking at the cloth-nest and then at Hytham, before he jumped in. Synin shuffled the cloth around a bit, getting comfortable, before resting comfortable.

“I am sorry, I have got nothing better at the moment.” For a moment everything around Eivor seemed to stop, when she heard his words. Even Synin looked up surprised. A warmth wormed it way through her heart. She had relationships that lasted longer than she had known Hytham that hadn’t once taken Synin in consideration. And he apologised for ‘only’ providing a cloth nest. Synin got up enough to reach one of Hytham’s hands and rubbed his head against a finger, before settling down again. The foreign spark of happiness from Synin flowed over from their connection, letting Eivor see how much it meant to her oldest friend.

“You, Hytham, are something entirely else.” The confused look she got from Hytham, just made it so much more adoring.

The raiders starred at picture presented in front of them with utter disbelieve. Hytham was standing by Gunnar talking to him, as the older man fixed a nick in the man’s strangely curved sword. On his shoulder though was the creature that managed to crawl from Helheim and make its way onto their boat. Nali was sitting in Hytham’s shoulder, resting her weight across the length of it, purring as she rubbed her head against the tanned man’s cheek. They couldn’t believe it, some thought they had drunk too much mead, but even after a few minutes the picture didn’t change. The helisch cat on his shoulders, purring. At some point he reached up and gently scratched Nali under her chin, making the purring even louder. That cat that scratched, bit, hissed at them for even getting to close. Not once at Eivor, no matter the mood the cat was in when Eivor picked it up. And Hytham either it seemed. Starring at each other for a second and then back at Hytham and Nali, they agreed simply that this was a mead induced dream.

It didn’t change the second day, when they were sober and saw Hytham chat with Eivor. The damned cat again on his shoulder, enjoying scratches from Eivor. And they would swear they saw the cat smirk at them, before purring loudly and pressing her head into Eivor’s hand.

**Author's Note:**

> As I wrote in the collection, should I upload another story / chapter / whatever, I would leave a little tease to my long Eivor and Hytham story. As of now, the story is about 20 000 words long and not yet finished. This is my current working summary that I find I quite like. 
> 
> Fulke saw a god in Eivor too. But by doing so, she poked a greater force awake. A creature in the shadows, waiting with razor-sharp teeth. And by waking it, she changed the fate the Nornir had spun.
> 
> Also, I have a question to the audience. As of how many 'words' roughly does it count as slowburn to you.


End file.
